We are creatures driven by strange passions, Basil mused as she watched
the Red Hound and its patrons from her usual vantage point, and so rarely
do we understand ourselves.  Take Misha, for example.  He was in the bar
again tonight, though how long he stayed that way depended on how long he
could avoid Maul's attention.  The priest was crazy, of course.  Mad as the
proverbial fairy.  But the thief-turned-priest had a friend in the goddess
Fursina, who protected and guided him.  What motivates such a man?  Why did
he risk Maul's wrath by sneaking in, and preach to drunks who, if they even
heard him, were too busy wallowing in their own troubles to pay him any
attention?
     Then, too, there was Gerok, the dwarf, who would come in every
morning as soon as the Hound opened for business, and had to be carried out
each night at closing, never did a bit of work, yet never seemed to run out
of money to pay for it all.  For that matter, there was Basil herself,
though she knew what passions were driving her, and thought she understood
herself as well as anyone ever could.  Cursed with an eternal curiosity,
and an undeniable compulsion to satisfy it, she knew herself to be forever
a wanderer.
     'So why,' she asked herself again, 'Am I still here?'
     Sighing, she left her coveted haven and moved to the center table that
was awaiting her.  She took her seat, and drew out her harp, and began to
play a gentle, distant melody.  She gave Tenkai a moment to take last-minute
orders before she began her tale, and surveyed her audience.  The Hound was
nearly packed, just as Tenkai had predicted.  She was surprised to note how
varied her audience was.  The usual low-lifes, thugs, and thieves were there,
as well as a healthy smattering of merchants, even a few of the "upper
crust."  Though they dressed down and sat a little apart from the rest, Basil 
knew the look of aristocracy when she saw it.  She decided to begin.
     "In the weeks that followed his strange birth, Unsai grew in strength 
and skill, half-learning, half-remembering the ways of everyday life.  
Shivak was well pleased with his creation, this living testament to his 
genius and power, and began dividing his attentions between the wonder he
had created and the quest for his own salvation."
     "D'san, of course, was not at all pleased with this..."

     "Well, boy, today is the day." Shivak said.
     "Day for what, sir?" Unsai asked.
     "Today you get to meet your father.  He's waiting at the front gate
even now." Unsai looked puzzled.
     "I thought..." Shivak laughed.
     "No, Unsai, I am your creator.  But the man who sired you... your human
side, at least, is Galeck, a king of the low provinces.  Now, you wait here,
and I'll go get him."
     "Now, you majesty, you must brace yourself." D'san was cautioning the
monarch, "Remember that the process was experimental." 
     "What are you trying to say?  That he's..."
     "No, sir, he's alive, in a manner of speaking.  His appearance is
greatly changed, however.  You will not recognize him." Shivak approached.
     "Ah, Galeck, so good of you to come on such short notice.  Before I show
you to your son, I must remind you that..."  Galeck grunted, cutting the
wizard savant off in mid-sentence.
     "Yes, yes, your lackey told me.  Now, by the Ten, let me see my boy!"
     "Very well.  This way." Shivak led him to where Unsai waited.  The two
stared at each other for some time.
     "Well?" Galeck asked, finally, "Where is he?"
     "He stands before you.  This is your young prince."  Galeck's jaw
dropped, and his face began to redden.
     "You turned my son into an animal?" He shouted angrily.
     "I warned you, sir, that the process was experimental, and that the
proceedure was quite radical." Shivak replied, placatingly.
     "Yes, but... but..."  Through this all, Unsai had stood, considering.
     "Father?" He asked.  Galeck's eyes widened.
     "You can speak!  Are you... is that you, son?" Unsai looked closely at
Galeck, and seemed confused.
     "I... do not know you.  I am sorry."   Galeck turned away, and covered
his face that the others might not see him weep.
     "Then it is as I feared.  My son is dead.  Wizard, I thank you for your
efforts.  I don't believe we have anything else to discuss." With that, he
walked away, his head bowed as though under a great burden.
     "That went well, wouldn't you say, D'san?"  The aide nodded.
     "As well as could be expected, sir."
     "Was that really my sire?" Unsai asked.  "He looked so... sad."
     "As I said, he spawned your human side.  He just isn't able to see how
much of an improvement you are."  Unsai nodded, accepting this not as praise,
but simply no more than the truth.

     "Well, D'san," Shivak began, later on, "Are you ready for your trip?"
     "Yes, sir, but can some other mage not lead this expedition?  I would
greatly prefer to remain by your side during the next steps of the
experimentation."  Shivak shook his head.
     "There is no other mage that I can trust with this task.  And if you
can't find suitable subjects, there won't be any more experimentation."
D'san nodded, but inwardly he cursed this new twist of fate.  Just when
matters were reaching a critical point, he had to be sent off on an extended
errand.  To make matters worse, there was this new... thing to contend with.
D'san most certainly did not appreciate having to compete with an ex-
perimental by-product for Shivak's attention.  But, D'san knew when to make
his stand, and this was certainly not the time.
     So it was that within a matter of days, D'san was leading a team of
mages on an expedition to locate magical beasts for use in the amalgamation
process.  With D'san gone, Shivak doted on Unsai all the more.  Indeed, it
occurred to the savant that, as the lion used to create Unsai had been
gifted with an instinctive magic, it was possible that Unsai himself was
similarly talented.

     "Now, my boy, we are going to try something new today."  Unsai laughed.
     "We try something new every day, sir."
     "True.  But today we're going to try something different.  I want to see
if you have the magic in your blood.  I'll need you to hold still..."  Shivak
turned away, then whirled around and sent a small blue ball of energy flying
toward Unsai, who, per his instructions, stood still.  The ball vanished
inches before it would have struck.  Shivak clapped.  "Excelent!  Magical
negation, just like before.  Now, all you need is a little training..."  But
it was not to be.  Unsai had not the temperment to become a mage.  He did
learn a little control over his powers, but spell-casting was quite beyond
him.  After many frustrating attempts, Shivak gave up on teaching magic to
his creation.  Overall, however, the news was quite heartening, and gave
Shivak hope that, when the time came for his own amalgamation, his own
powers would remain intact.
     In the days that followed, Shivak found himself keenly feeling the
absence of his aide.  The every day business that D'san had dealt with now
came directly to Shivak, who found the constant distraction irritating.  In
his frustration, he appointed Unsai to turn aside anyone who wasn't bringing
important news.  To his pleasure, Shivak found himself undisturbed for the
rest of the day.  He soon began to grow worried, however.  What if an
important matter really did come up?  Would Unsai know the difference, and
send it through?
     When he checked, he found, much to his amazement, that Unsai had not, in
fact, turned aside anyone.  Instead, he had dealt with each matter, taking it
upon himself to make the required decisions.  Upon finding this, Shivak was
frantic.  Upon review of each matter, however, he found that Unsai had, in
almost every case, made the right call, and in some cases, had shown a
considerable talent for his adminisrative role.
     "Unsai?" Shivak said, after giving the matter some thought, "I have a
job for you."
     "Yes, sir?"
     "I want you to screen everyone who tries to see me.  Any matter of
magic, you are to send to me.  Anything else, deal with as you see fit."
Unsai shrugged.  That had been his intention from the beginning.  Still, it
was nice to have his creator's explicit consent.
     Time passed, as it has a habit of doing.  Shivak gradually turned almost
all daily matters over to Unsai, becoming more and more reclusive with each
passing day, as his time began to run short.  When Unsai visited him, he was
alternatingly withdrawn and tempermental.  Unsai was confused and troubled
by this change in his creator.  If D'san had been there, he would have
recognized these as the warning signs of the Blight's onset.
     D'san was, at that time, on the northern coast, seeking a rare and
extremely magical variety of talking fish.  The graceful, dolphin-like
aquarian evaded their nets, taunting them.
     "Hey, wizard!" The fish called, "Hear the one about the man who
caught the arguing fish?  He died of indigestion.  Ate something that didn't
agree with him."
     "It isn't the humiliation of being outsmarted by a fish that bothers
me." D'san commented bitterly to one of the task magi.  "It's the torment of
having to listen to its jokes."  The creature was quite a commedian.  It
started another quip.
     "Say, did you hear the one about the squid that was searching for the
true porpus of life?"
     Meanwhile, Shivak continued his search for the process that would cure
him.  Even as he waited for subjects for the crucial Phase III experiments,
he continued his attempts with Phase II.  Still, he had no better success
investing his creations with will and intelect.  Yet Unsai obviously had
will and intelligence... where was the difference?  Shivak mused that the
difference lay in the fact that Phase III experimentation involves two
functioning minds, while Phase II only creates an uninhabited shell.  Thus
satisfied, he began looking for ways to ensure that his own vast intelect
would survive the proceedure.  
     When D'san finally did return, at the head of a caravan of bizaare and
mythical creatures, he was outwardly commending of Unsai's administrative
efforts.  Inwardly, he seethed with rage.  D'san met with Shivak, and saw
just how short time had become.  The wizard savant was rapidly losing his
struggle against the madness of the Blight, as evidenced by his steadily
escalating temper.
     "Now... Now, D'san, let us see what you have found.  It had better be
worth the wait."
     "I assure you, sir, you will not be displeased."  Indeed, Shivak was
thrilled at the assortment presented to him.  He stood before each cage for
long intervals of silence, considering each creature.  The dragon was
tempting, possessing vast magic, but it was the strange tiger that caught
his attention.  It was white, with black stripes, and had a strong aura of
magic.
     "It is perfect, D'san, perfect!  We must make preparations at once.  As
you may have seen, Unsai has filled in for you in your absence.  Thus, you
are free to devote your time to assisting me in the amalgamation process."
D'san did a startled double take.  This was exactly what he'd been hoping
to hear, and an unexpected stroke of luck.  Let the freak have his job.
D'san had from it what he'd wanted.  Now, they had the beasts... all they
needed was a few "volunteers".

        As it turned out, subjects for Phase III were not difficult to
come by.  In the right quarters, a promise of a warm meal and a few coppers
quickly silences pesky questions.  One by one the down-and-out began to
vanish, though not in such numbers that anyone would notice their passage.
        This stroke of luck, however, did not improve D'san's mood.  Their
efforts were successful, so far as the experimentation was concerned, though
as with Unsai, none of the subjects had any memory of their past lives.
D'san's true goal, however, that of learning the final steps of the process,
was blocked again and again.  Just when he thought Shivak was going to give
him a moment to watch, something always came up that he had to attend to,
be it a sudden weakening of the preservative spells or a disturbance in the
flow of magic, just when Shivak was performing the critical process of
amalgamating the tissues.  Outwardly, he maintained his air of calm and
subservience, but when he retired for the night the dampening spell around
his chamber was the only thing keeping the sound of his destructive rage
from being heard in five kingdoms.  
        Their menagere now contained morphs of every kind available to
human imagination, and a few that probably weren't.  Some of the creatures
of magic, of course, had trouble adjusting to humanoid form.  The salamander,
for one, was proving most difficult to contain.  They eventually had to
assign a mage to continuously keep him doused.  Others, however, seemed
almost to have been born in their current forms.  The blind one, for
example, a morph of the strange cave creature they'd found, exuded calm
and peace.  D'san found him disturbing to remain around for long.  Those
white orbs were useless, D'san knew, yet he still couldn't shake the
feeling that the damned creature was staring right at him.
        The new subjects shared Unsai's steep learning curve, and in
short order the beast-men were clammering constantly for attention,
demanding food, respect, even release.  Escapes were not infrequent, but
capture was certain for such creatures.  Oddly, several times the escaped
beasts were caught hiding in the Phase II holding area, despite the fact
that their features were, for the most part, obviously different.
        Time was becoming increasingly precious for Shivak, who could almost
see himself deteriorating from moment to moment.  Finally, however, the day
came when his experimentation payed off, and he called D'san in to give him
instructions.
        "D'san, my boy, today is to be the day." He exclaimed, "You will see
to it that the tiger is prepared." D'san looked at his master, shocked.
        "But... Who will perform the amalgamation?  There are still a few
steps that you haven't shown me."  To his dismay, Shivak laughed.
        "Poor, deluded boy, did you really think I'd let you work the magic
to transform me?  I know your ambitions, D'san, and I know what you plan to
do with my magic once you have it." D'san dropped his meek facade.
        "Look, old man, you need me!  I'm the only other mage who has the
talent to even attempt the amalgamation, and you can't very well perform the
process on yourself!" Shivak laughed again, and D'san could hear the tinge
of madness the Blight had given it.
        "Ah, but that's where you are wrong, my boy!  I can, and I will.
You can either prepare the beast for the process, and continue to be my
apprentice, or you can pack up and leave.  The choice is yours."  D'san's
face was an obvious battlefield between his indignant rage and his
ambition.  In the end, ambition won out, and D'san bowed, once again all
humility and obedience.
        "I will see to it at once, sir." The slight involuntary stress on
his last word was the only remaining indication of their conversation.

        "Now, then, my boy, I have a special task for you today."  Shivak
told Unsai as the white tiger's preserved remains were being delivered to
his workshop.  "I will be working a very special experiment today, and when
I come out, I will look very different... quite a bit like you, in fact."
        "I am pleased to hear that, sir." Unsai replied truthfully.
        "Your task is to guard my door.  Let none through, absolutely none,
not even D'san.  Especially not D'san.  You remember the defensive ward I
showed you?" Unsai nodded, "You may have need of it.  But no matter what,
you are to guard this door with your life."
        "I will do so." Unsai decreed gravely.  Certain of his creation's
resolve, Shivak entered his workshop and closed the door behind himself.

        Once alone, Shivak began his preparations.  Even the mage-savant
was mildly daunted by the audacity of what he intended to do, and he wanted
to be certain that everything was just as it needed to be.  When all of his
lesser spells had been arranged and he was certain that he would not be
disturbed, he positioned himself on the floor next to the tiger's carcass,
and began what was debatably the most difficult step of his work.  He closed
his eyes, and began the long process of disconnecting himself from the
world around him.  His thoughts turned inward, and his breathing became
deep and steady.  He relaxed himself into the stone floor, letting all his
tension flow away.  In months past, this simple technique had been the key
to many of his successes, allowing him to collapse his sleep into half the
time normal men would need, giving him clarity and focus, and an increased
awareness both of his body and the energies that flowed through him.  Of
late, though, that state of tranquility and detachment was becoming harder
to attain, as the Blight devoured his self-control.  Even now, he could
feel it pushing at the edge of his balance, a vast tide of incoherent rage
boiling and churning, waiting to drown his sanity.  With an effort that was
not an effort, he pushed it away, becoming the serpent devouring its tail,
the ribbon with a twist that has only one side, becoming as infinite as the
stars and as tiny as a grain of sand.
        At last, he found the level of awareness he was used to.  Here,
within himself, he could feel everything.  Every hair on his body stood out
in his conciousness, every nerve sent back detailed information.  He could
hear his heart, his breathing, could feel the tides of blood as they rushed
through his veins.  Today, however, that was not enough.  Slowly, carefully,
he withdrew these senses, taking his sense of self from the surface of his
body inward, shaping his conciousness into a formless mass, concentrated
near his heart.  His sense of his body became dimmer, and finally, he
found himself floating in a void.  With a flicker of though, he cast himself
upward.
        He formed his energy into a semblance of his body, and opened his
"eyes."  Below him, his body lay stretched out, in a state very like death.
His breathing was so slight as to be almost unnoticable, and anyone who
checked his pulse would find none.  Shivak drew the magic he would need
through his body, shaping it into a form his spiritself could access.  When
he was finished, he had a bucket, filled with shimmering fluid.  Other
mages might sneer at his simple imagery, but therein lay his genius, the
ability to utilize simple images and make them effective.
        Steeling himself, he dipped his finger into the bucket and shaped
a few drops of magic into a blade.  Not giving himself time to think, or
doubt, he began the incisious, vivisectioning his own senseless body.
Distantly, as though hearing a voice though a stone wall, he could almost
feel the pain his body was experiencing.  He ignored the sensation, and
completed butchering himself.  The preservative spells he wove were weaker
than those he'd used before, but he knew they weren't as necessary.  There
would be no waiting between the amalgamation and the joining.  He wove the
magics over his body, and was almost distracted from his task by the
tingling sensation that washed over him.  He quickly banished it, forcing
himself to remain in his spirit state, to deny any connection to the prone
form he worked on.  To do less was to invite madness.
        The amalgamation finished, he took stock of his remaining energy,
and found to his dismay that only half of what he'd started with remained.
He had to hurry, lest the reserve he had left dissipate.  Drawing once more
upon the energy he'd summoned, he began working the spells that would join
the bodies together.  His artistic sense guided him, as he melded his own...
the human body's white-streaked hair with the tiger-striped fur of the
animal.  The eyes became a startling shade of blue, while the rest of the
joining was similar to what he'd done for Unsai.
        Part of his task became easier, as the form he was creating came to
look less and less like his own image.  However, he was unused to working
with limited resources, and each time he dipped into his bucket, he was
dismayed at how little he had left.  Finally, the bodies were joined to
his satisfaction.
        Now came the interesting part.  He withdrew all that remained from
his bucket of magic, and let it flow however it wished, pouring it all into
the joining of the brain, with no shape or direction.  He watched the aura
of the creation in front of him gradually shift as the brain took on it's
final shape, praying fervently that the dregs of his bucket would be enough
to finish the process.
        His sense of self began to flicker, and he knew that his time was
finished.  He allowed sensation and connection to return to him, trusting
that the transformation had been a success out of the simple virtue that it
was his only option.  His soul screamed as he rejoined his body and found
his sense of self being twisted and reshaped to match his new form, finding
nerves and sensations that his mind was unprepared to handle.

        He had no way of knowing how much time had passed when he finally
reopened his eyes.  He looked around, and the room seemed to leap as his
eyes roved.  Everything had a surreal cast to it, like a scene drawn by
moonlight, all the colors washed away by the night.  He tried to sit up.
He eventually managed to roll over and rise into a crouch.  The door
loomed in his vision.  He tried to stand, and collapsed back onto the
ground.  He picked himself up again, and crawled his way to the door.
Using the latch as a handhold, he pulled himself up.  He could feel the
muscularity of his limbs, knew that they were powerful, but they would not
obey his demands for strength.  His legs finally seemed to understand what
he wanted of them, and he stood on his own at last, though he found that
he had to lean on the door still to maintain his ballance.  When he felt
competent to do so, he turned the latch and managed to swing the door
outward, though it seemed to resist with a titanic strength.
        Outside, Unsai remained on guard.  He turned to face his Altered
creator, who stumbled forward, only to fall to the ground once again.
Unsai was about to offer assistance, when the tramping sound of many feet
on the stone floor of the hall halted them.  Around the corner came D'san
leading a small contingent of mages.
        "There they are.  These two escaped from the holding area." He
informed the other mages, "Restrain them!" The mage hesitated, looking
from Unsai to D'san.
        "But that's Shivak's assistant... he's never been in the holding
pen."
        "I am Shivak's assistant," D'san corrected, "That is Shivak's pet.
Shivak is gone, and while he is away, you will obey me, is that understood?"
The mages nodded, and moved forward to confront the pair of felines.
        Shivak tried to weave a spell to protect them, but he found himself
unable to weave the magic, defeated by his new form's clumsiness.  He tried
to order the mages to stop, to identify himself as their leader, but all his
mouth would produce were slurred, unintelligible growls.
        Unsai, however, was not so easily taken.  The mages' spells slid
off of him like water over a stone, but his own attacks were not so easily
ignored.  In moments, three mages lay senseless and two more were cornered.
A noise from behind caught his attention, and he turned to find D'san
holding an etherial blade against the tiger-morph's throat.
        "Now we'll see where your loyalties lie!" D'san proclaimed, "If you
don't surrender, he dies!"

        "Knowing that there was no other choice, Unsai submitted.  They
were taken to the holding cell, and thrown in with the other creatures.
Shivak was accepted as any other, but Unsai found that he was not as
welcome.  As Shivak's favorite, he was nearly as despised as the wizard
himself.  Though it was within his power to sacrifice his creator to their
anger, he held his tounge and accepted their abuse, true and loyal as the
animal who's guise he bore."  Basil sipped the last of her drink, and gave
her harp a few final strums, and her listeners began to stir, feeling as
though they'd just awakened from a dream.  There was no applause tonight,
but none seemed necessary, as several, the disguised nobility in particular,
left more tangible tokens of their appreciation as they passed.  Tenkai
closed the bar, tossing Gerok out into the streets where he'd either sleep
the night through or be carried home by some generous patron.  Either way,
he was safe, as he was well known to carry nothing of value on his person.
        Basil collected her tips for the evening, amazed at how much she'd
accumulated.  She had enough to leave town, now, easily enough to book
passage on a ship going somewhere she'd never seen.  Perhaps she might even
revisit the Southlands.  There was much, much more on that continent than
she'd been priviledged to see on her last brief visit.  Perhaps the other
direction might prove more fruitful, a journey to the frozen north, from
which many legends descended.  The world was out there, just waiting for
her to explore it, a world full of stories to learn, and an immortal
lifetime in which to tell them.
        She looked at the money she'd collected, and sighed.  She knew now
that she wouldn't leave, at least not yet.  She'd never told this story
before, and now that she had started, she needed to finish it.  Another
evening like this one... maybe two, and then she could go.  She brightened
at the though that, if things continued in the same vein, she'd have more
than enough money to avoid work for many months to come.  The world could
wait... for the moment.